DeJesus Arrives Three Days Late, Raptures Oakland's Losing Streak Away With 6-1 Win

Update: More Geren news, as former Athletic Huston Street blasted Geren in a text sent to SF Chronicle writer Susan Slusser. "[Geren] was my least favorite person I have ever encountered in sports from age 6 to 27." More in this article by John Shea.

Man, oh man, David DeJesus had a night to remember. He sparked the A's in a big way, smacking two home runs and a double, driving in 4 of the 6 runs that Oakland scored tonight.

Coming off of a six game losing streak where they scored ten runs total, no one should have blamed the A's if they lost this one—Angels starter Dan Haren is one of the best pitchers in baseball, and the A's were forced to use injury replacement Guillermo Moscoso, a 27-year-old journeyman making his first start in the major leagues. And yet...

Moscoso was surprisingly good, shutting out the Angels and only allowing 3 hits in 6 innings of work. He had some nerves in the beginning, and he was nibbling on the outer half of the strike zone in the first inning, but he settled down quickly and flashed a deceptive fastball that tailed a lot more than his relatively straight fastball did last year. Even though he walked 3, he threw 50 of 79 fastballs for strikes, and he was more than serviceable over his 6 innings. I don't know where the A's keep finding these pitchers who can put up zeroes, but it's nice to see. The one time Moscoso got into trouble, he was saved by an absolute gem of a diving catch by Coco Crisp. Good center fielders make hard plays look easy, but Coco Crisp showed what he can do when he has to make something look difficult. It was a booming double into the gap off the bat of Maicer Izturis, but Coco managed to make a beautiful diving catch, the result of a fantastic jump and a great route. Seriously, go check it out, because I can't possibly do it justice.

Dan Haren, on the other hand, labored through the middle innings, allowing a run in the 3rd, two in the 4th, and two more the 5th. It was a rare off-night from the ace, but the A's took advantage when they needed it the most, and now they've evened up the series with two favorable pitching matchups coming up.

(Thanks to harensheir15 for the awesome headline.)